On August 18 and 19th 2012, in the Santa Ynez Valley of California, Silver Maple Farm held their second “Fun Summer Gathering”. Hosts and Owners, Christie and Henry Metz have as one of their business goals the creation of a template for an event; a model for other farms to use in order to bring visitors to their farms.

Casual and comfortable in approach, the beautiful surroundings of Montanaro, a restored 1800’s store placed in the middle of an alfalfa field in the charming town of Los Olivos created a magical ambience. Flowers served as a backdrop in front of the entry for the beautiful paintings of Artist, Judith Wagner. Inside, Mary Alexander of Qninedesign displayed the decorative halters, breast and dog collars designed and produced by her family. SMF displayed a painting and bronze of Glorietasayonaara by Edwin Bogucki, a pencil drawing of the mare by German artist Annelise Mueschler, along with reference books on Arabian horses. In the rustic but elegant Montanaro it all seemed complimentary!

Dr. Phoebe Smith DVM of Riviera Equine began Saturday morning with the topic of the “Top Ten Equine Emergencies”; followed by Keri Wright, straight Egyptian breeder of Cariswood Arabian Farm in Utah. Keri talked about the valuable reference material available to help breeders make informed decisions regarding their own programs. He shared from his forty plus years of personal knowledge of Arabian horses using touching stories of his families horses to illustrate. Keri also noted that reference material assists owners in learning learn more about their horse’s origins through invaluable written and pictorial history. Following the morning speakers, a box lunch picnic, complete with delicious cookies, was held at Silver Maple Farm. In the afternoon, the group began a “Virtual Reality Tour” of SMF’s foundation mare family, Glorietasayonaara (Ansata Abu Nazeer x Glorieta Shahlima). Using multiple generations of both stallions and mares to exhibit the traits carried forward, noting what improved this specific line yet maintained the physical traits they personally valued in Sayo. Christie shared how she and Henry approached each choice.

After a short but welcome break on a very hot August afternoon, everyone returned to the Montanaro Farm for a dinner sponsored by Al Jassimya Farm. Dr. Doug Herthel, DVM of Alamo Pintado Equine Clinic spoke about the use of stem cells along with nutrition for healing horses. He showed a very poignant and powerful video on Eli, a donkey completely paralyzed in an accident. Using stem cell injection Eli was able to walk again! Doug’s’ son, Mark Herthel, of Platinum Performance Feeds followed up showing us all the latest on how nutrients work in the healing process of horses. Mark presented amazing data to bolster these findings. Christie Metz wound up the evening with her Power Point Presentation of the “Virtual Reality Tour of an Equine Family”, this time noting the equine genetics dilution chart, the importance of using line breeding and inbreeding to set traits and the influence of color genetics on physical traits. Christie remarked on the importance of a pedigree as a means for pictorial ancestry, and written origins. These factors add to marketability because of purity and the impact of the strength to carry specific traits forward.

On Sunday morning, everyone gathered once again at SMF in order to visit informally with speakers and celebrate Simeon Shai’s 28th birthday. Christie and Henry presented his progeny residing there at the farm, a son and several daughters along with granddaughters. Shai of course, was the “Finale”; he definitely enjoyed this time of crowd admiration. He finished with his favorite cinnamon cookies and photos with the guests. Normally Shai is very impatient with this human silliness but on that day, he seemed to enjoy everyone and have endless patience with the process!

It would be very remiss of me not mention that Sandee Andrews and her mother Diane treated everyone to their incredibly decorated Simeon Shai birthday cupcakes that delicious! I am sure that Shai enjoyed his cupcake if the green frosting on his muzzle was any indication. Photographers Lori Mackintosh and Brandon Bessey preserved this moment in time with their cameras!! Shortly after noon, everyone waved good-by thanking us for the opportunity to learn and share personal time within their community.